Housing

ABSTRACT

A housing having a flat portion and a curved portion is provided. The housing includes an upper material layer, a lower material layer and a core layer. The core layer is disposed between the upper material layer and the lower material layer. The core layer has a first material region and a second material region. The first material region is corresponding to the flat portion. The second material region is corresponding to the curved portion. A material of the first material region is different from a material of the second material region.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefits of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/551,464, filed on Oct. 26, 2011. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a housing, and more particularly, to a housing suitable for an electronic device.

2. Description of Related Art

In recent years, portable electronic device with increasingly diverse functions, progressively smaller volume and conveniences in wireless communications and wireless network, allowing people to obtain network information through the portable electronic device, has become increasingly popular. The portable electronic device is a work platform carried around by the people, and is stored with large amounts of data and applications; therefore, if a structural strength of the portable electronic device is not complied with safety requirements, not pressure endurable and not crashworthiness, it would result in a trouble of portability. In order to enhance the portability, the portable electronic device has continued to shrink in thickness and weight; however, in features of some designs, reducing the thickness and weight is contradicting with the maintenance of the structural strength. Therefore, increasing the structure strength of the portable electronic device while trying to reduce the thickness and the weight of overall structure has always been a design focus for the portable electronic device. A composite material constituted of combining lightweight materials, such as mylar, graphite, bamboo fiber or carbon fiber, with a metal have both features of favorable structural strength and thinness, and thus is applied to an electronic device housing.

Many composite materials applied to the electronic device housing have utilized a metal as a core layer for enhancing the structural strength; however, the weight of the metal is heavier and would limit the thinning of the composite materials. Therefore, enabling the composite material to have both features of structural strength and thinness has become a design focus for the electronic device housing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a housing with a lighter weight and capable of having favorable structural strength.

The invention provides a housing having a flat portion and a curved portion. The housing includes an upper material layer, a lower material layer and a core layer. The core layer is disposed between the upper material layer and the lower material layer. The core layer has a first material region and a second material region. The first material region is corresponding to the flat portion. The second material region is corresponding to the curved portion. A material of the first material region is different from a material of the second material region.

In an embodiment of the invention, the material of the first material region is metal, and the material of the second material region is plastic.

In an embodiment of the invention, the material of the first material region is plastic, and the material of the second material region is metal.

In an embodiment of the invention, the upper material layer is a carbon fiber layer, a glass fiber layer, a plant fiber layer, a Kevlar fiber layer, a metal layer or a plastic layer, the lower material layer is a carbon fiber layer, a glass fiber layer, a Kevlar fiber layer, a metal layer or a plastic layer.

In an embodiment of the invention, a material of the upper material layer is different from a material of the lower material layer.

In an embodiment of the invention, the curved portion surrounds the flat portion.

In an embodiment of the invention, the second material region extends from the curved portion to the flat portion so that boundaries of the first material region and the second material region are located within the flat portion.

According to the foregoing, the core layer of the invention is composed of the first material region and the second material region with different materials, one of the materials of the first material region and the second material region may selectively be a metal so as to maintain the structural strength of the housing, and the other one of the materials of the first material region and the second material region may selectively be a plastic so as to lower the weight of the housing.

When the material of the first material region corresponding to the flat portion of the housing is selected to be metal and the material of the second material region corresponding to the curved portion of the housing is selected to be plastic, the housing is enabled to have favorable anti-deflection deformation strength. When the material of the first material region corresponding to the flat portion of the housing is selected to be plastic and the material of the second material region corresponding to the curved portion of the housing is selected to be metal, the housing is enabled to have favorable anti-twisting deformation strength. Accordingly, the materials of the first material region and the second material region may be determined according to design requirements, so as to enhance all kinds of anti-deformation abilities of the housing.

In order to make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the invention comprehensible, several exemplary embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a housing according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view illustrating the housing in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the housing along a profile line I-I in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a core layer according to another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DISCLOSED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a housing according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded view illustrating the housing in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the housing along a profile line I-I in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the housing 100 of the present embodiment has a flat portion 100 a and a curved portion 100 b (in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the flat portion 100 a and the curved portion 100 b are distinguished with a dotted line). The housing 100 includes an upper material layer 110, a lower material layer 120 and a core layer 130, and the core layer 130 is disposed between the upper material layer 110 and the lower material layer 120. The core layer 130 has a first material region 132 and a second material region 134, the first material region 132 is corresponding to the flat portion 100 a of the housing 100, the second material region 134 is corresponding to the curved portion 100 b of the housing 100, and a material of the first material region 132 is different from a material of the second material region 134.

In the present embodiment, the material of the first material region 132 corresponding to the flat portion 110 a is, for example, metal, and the material of the second material region 134 corresponding to the curved portion 100 b is, for example, plastic. The first material region 132 with a material of metal may maintain the structural strength of the housing 100, and the second material region 134 with a material of plastic may enable the core layer 130 to have a non-full-metal structure, so as to lower the weight of the housing 100.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a core layer according to another embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 4, differences between the core layer 130′ of the present embodiment and the core layer 130 in FIG. 2 are that, a material of the first material region 132′ of the core layer 130′ is plastic, and a material of the second material region 134′ of the core layer 130′ is metal. The core layer 130′ in FIG. 4 may be used to replace the core layer 130 in FIG. 2, so that the first material region 132′of the core layer 130′ is corresponding to the flat portion 100 a shown in FIG. 1, and the second material region 134′ of the core layer 130′ is corresponding to the curved portion 100 b shown in FIG. 1. The second material region 134′ with a material of metal may maintain the structural strength of the housing, and the first material region 132′ with a material of plastic may enable the core layer 130′ to have a non-full-metal structure, so as to lower the weight of the housing.

Furthermore, when the material of the first material region 132 corresponding to the flat portion 100 a of the housing is selected to be metal and the material of the second material region 134 corresponding to the curved portion 100 b of the housing is selected to be plastic (such as the core layer 130 shown in FIG. 2), the housing is enabled to have favorable anti-deflection deformation strength. When the material of the first material region 132′ corresponding to the flat portion 100 a of the housing is selected to be plastic and the material of the second material region 134′ corresponding to the curved portion 100 b of the housing is selected to be metal (such as the core layer 130′ shown in FIG. 4), the housing is enabled to have favorable anti-twisting deformation strength. As a result, materials of the first material region and the second material region may be determined according to design requirements, so as to enhance all kinds of anti-deformation abilities of the housing.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, the curved portion 100 b surrounds the flat portion 100 a, so that the housing 100 becomes a structure with flat central and curved periphery, and may be applied to a back cover of a notebook display. In other embodiments, the housing may have a structure of other shapes, and may be applied to other types of apparatus; the invention is not limited thereto.

The flat portion 100 a of the housing 100 is a flat structure without curvature, and the curved portion 100 b is a curved structure with curvature. As shown in FIG. 3, the second material region 134 is designed to be extending from the curved portion 100 b to the flat portion 100 a so that boundaries of the first material region 132 and the second material region 134 are located within the flat portion 100 a, and the first material region 132 and the second material region 134 may be avoid of breaking apart from each other when the curved portion 100 b is machining processed.

In the present embodiment, the upper material layer 110 is, for example, a carbon fiber layer, a glass fiber layer, a Kevlar fiber layers, a metal layer, a plastic layer or other suitable types of fiber layers; the lower material layer 120 is, for example, a carbon fiber layer, a glass fiber layer, a Kevlar fiber layers, a metal layer, a plastic layer or other suitable types of the fiber layers; and materials of the upper material layer 110 and the lower material layer 120 may be the same or different; the invention is not limited thereto.

In summary, the core layer of the invention is composed of the first material region and the second material region with different materials, one of the materials of the first material region and the second material region may selectively be a metal so as to maintain the structural strength of the housing, and the other one of the materials of the first material region and the second material region may selectively be a plastic so as to lower the weight of the housing.

When the material of the first material region corresponding to the flat portion of the housing is selected to be metal and the material of the second material region corresponding to the curved portion of the housing is selected to be plastic, the housing is enabled to have favorable anti-deflection deformation strength. When the material of the first material region corresponding to the flat portion of the housing is selected to be plastic and the material of the second material region corresponding to the curved portion of the housing is selected to be metal, the housing is enabled to have favorable anti-twisting deformation strength. Accordingly, the materials of the first material region and the second material region may be determined according to design requirements, so as to enhance all kinds of anti-deformation abilities of the housing.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A housing having a flat portion and a curved portion, the housing comprising: an upper material layer; a lower material layer; and a core layer, disposed between the upper material layer and the lower material layer, wherein the core layer has a first material region and a second material region, the first material region is corresponding to the flat portion, the second material region is corresponding to the curved portion, and a material of the first material region is different from a material of the second material region.
 2. The housing as recited in claim 1, wherein the material of the first material region is metal, and the material of the second material region is plastic.
 3. The housing as recited in claim 1, wherein the material of the first material region is plastic, and the material of the second material region is metal.
 4. The housing as recited in claim 1, wherein the upper material layer is a carbon fiber layer, a glass fiber layer, a Kevlar fiber layer, a metal layer or a plastic layer, and the lower material layer is a carbon fiber layer, a glass fiber layer, a Kevlar fiber layer, a metal layer or a plastic layer.
 5. The housing as recited in claim 1, wherein a material of the upper material layer is different from a material of the lower material layer.
 6. The housing as recited in claim 1, wherein the curved portion surrounds the flat portion.
 7. The housing as recited in claim 1, wherein the second material region extends from the curved portion to the flat portion so that boundaries of the first material region and the second material region are located within the flat portion. 